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RHODE ISLAND 
DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY. 






Warden and Woodsman. 



BY 



JESSE B. MOWRY 

Commissioner of Forestry* 



PROVIDENCE, R. I. 

E. L. KREEMAN COMPANY, STATE PRINTERS. 
1913. 



RHODE ISLAND, ; 
DEPARTMENT .OF FORESTRY. 



WARDEN AND WOODSMAN. 



JESSE B. MOWRY, 

Commissioner of Forestry. 



PROVIDENCE, R. I. 

K. L. FREEMAN COMPANY, STATE PRINTERS. 
1913. 



.R 



FOREWORD. 



Since progress in practical forestry depends much upon mutual 
understanding and assistance between the wardens, woodsmen, and 
timber owners, the aim in this pamphlet is to combine instructions 
to forest wardens with a brief outline of the best methods of cutting 
the timber of this region. 

The Author. 
Chepachet, November, 1913. 

MAR 28 W* 




PART L 

INSTRUCTIONS TO FOREST WARDENS. 



1. The prevention of forest fires being a service of great value 
to the state, do not hesitate to do your full duty under the law, feel- 
ing assured in the discharge of your official duties of the support 
of all good citizens. 

2. Read carefully the forest fire laws, which for convenience, 
are published in a booklet issued by this office. In reading the law 
you will observe that there are no restrictions whatever upon the 
setting of fires in the open air between December 1 and March 1. 
Between these two dates fires may be set anywhere without a permit 
from the warden. 

From March 1 to December 1 fires can be set without a permit, in 
plowed fields and gardens, and on other land devoid of inflammable 
materials, and on highways by owners of adjacent lands, etc. 

Between March 1 and December 1, a permit is required in order 
to burn rubbish, brush, etc., on land covered with inflammable 
materials. From March 1 to December l,no person is allowed to 
set a fire within 100 feet of forest or sprout land, or within 15 feet 
of any building, whether he holds a permit or not. 

3. Obtain from the commissioner of forestry a supply of printed 
notices containing these laws and see that these notices are properly 
posted in buildings and along roads, paths, margins of ponds, and 
all locations frequented by campers, hunters, fishermen, wood chop- 
pers, and others. 

4. During dry and dangerous seasons keep a sharp watch for 
any signs of fire, and have ready the equipment such as shovels, hoes, 



4 REPORT OF FORESTRY COMMISSIONER. 

iron rakes, water pails, brooms, axes, fire extinguishers, and horse 
and wagon, or automobile, so that no time may be lost in reaching 
the spot where smoke is seen, or where fire is reported. 

5. It is a good plan to have a list of reliable men who have agreed 
to help you fight fire, but in time of need do not hesitate to summon 
any man qualified for service. 

6. Go yourself promptly to the fire with your helpers in order 
to direct the work. 

7. Bring the matter before your town council of providing equip- 
ment for fighting fire. 

8. Caution persons who travel the woods to be careful in the 
use of fire. 

9. Back-firing requires good generalship, and should be used 
under your personal direction only as a last resort, when the situation 
is clearly understood. 

10. Take especial pains to ascertain the point where the fire 
started, and who or what started it, and to report all facts obtainable 
regardless of whom they concern. 

11. Fires are more easily extinguished in the morning and even- 
ing than at mid-day, so that if necessary, continue your efforts 
after sunset. 

12. The forest warden badges are numbered consecutively, and 
the number of each badge is kept on file so that any forest warden 
may be identified. The badges are the property of the state, and 
are held by the wardens only during their services as such. 

13. After a fire occurs the forest warden should mail promptly 
to the commissioner of forestry a report of the fire, using the printed 
form provided for the purpose. 

14. Your helpers should not depend entirely upon you for tools, 
but should provide themselves with pine boughs, shovels, and any 
implements that may be handy. 



REPORT OF FORESTRY COMMISSIONER. 5 

15. You are not obliged to pay for the services of men whom 
you have not summoned, but you are advised to pay any man who 
does good and necessary work in fighting fire, whether he is sum- 
moned or not. 

16. Supply your men with water and food when circumstances 
require it. 

17. If you discover smoke in the distance, and are in doubt 
whether the fire is in your town or district, go and investigate, and 
lend a hand wherever the fire may be. 

18. Watch the site of a fire for some time after it seems to be 
put out, and if a fire is not completely extinguished by evening, 
leave several men in charge of it during the night. Never leave 
burning stumps and snags near the fire line. 

19. Require your men to follow your directions, and be vigilant 
in noting their efforts. Equipment is good, but system is better. 
A disorganized gang will scatter fire rather than extinguish it. Seven 
trained men, some of these with extinguishers, are worth more in 
some localities, than fifty inexperienced men without competent 
leaders. In some instances you will find it best to look over your 
men and pick out those you want, politely telling the rest that their 
services are not needed, —that you can probably control the fire 
with the few men which you have already engaged. It may take 
sand in a warden to do this, but it is sometimes the way to put out 
fire and save expense. 

20. Refuse the services of those who loaf on the job of fighting 
fire. 

21. Keep a list of the names and time of your helpers and do not 
depend on them to report to you later. 

22. Post notices above the reach of children. 

23. Have your title of forest warden inserted in the telephone 
directory. 



6 KEPORT OF FORESTRY COMMISSIONER. 

24 Search out the location of brooks and springs. In wood- 
lands having a scanty water supply, clean out any small spring hole, 
or set a barrel in the ground to hold the water of any rill or slow 
seepage discovered. Set a white post to mark the location of the 
barrel. Where water is available, the knapsack sprinkler, or pail- 
pump for use with water, or the chemical fire extinguishers, like the 
knapsack sprayer and power sprayer, which throw a stream of water 
charged with sulphuric acid and bicarbonate of soda are very effective. 

25. Having secured the help of the rural mail carriers in reporting 
fires, do all you can to cooperate with them in a reasonable and tactful 
way, as they are not ordered, but only requested to assist you. 

26. District forest wardens are required to report cases of viola- 
tions of the laws to the town forest warden who is required by law to 
enforce all laws relating to forest fires. 

27. The watchman at a lookout station must study his maps and 
other equipment and become familiar with the geography of his 
territory, with the names of the wardens and others, and with the 
telephone connections in all directions from his station, in order that 
no time may be lost in getting help to a fire as soon as the smoke 
rises. 

28. In law enforcement, deal with all alike, disregarding the 
natural claim of friend and neighbor to special consideration. 

29. Enlist the woodsmen, game wardens, boy scouts, campers, 
fishermen, hunters, and automobilists. 

30. Tool boxes placed at cross-roads are convenient for holding 
equipment. 

31. In the emergency of a fire threatening to get by a rake and 
shovel fire line before work on the line can be completed, a line 
of dynamite cartridges can be used to advantage as described in 
American Forestry, of November, 1913. 

32. By granting permits to set fires in the open air, as required 
by law, you may know the location of fire, you may have a chance to 



REPORT OF FORESTRY COMMISSIONER. 7 

warn persons of the danger and risk of setting fire, you may prevent 
notoriously careless persons from starting fires. 

33. Call attention to the fact that the granting of a permit does 
not relieve the applicant from the penalties imposed by the law if 
fire is permitted to escape from control. 

34. Since it is important that the warden should know who is 
setting fires at any particular time, permits should not be granted for 
a period longer than forty-eight hours, excepting in special cases 
where a longer time seems warranted. Persons or corporations 
engaged in lumbering, clearing land, or other occupations requiring 
the burning of large amounts of brush or rubbish, who agree to direct 
the work of burning in such a manner that the risk is small, may 
safely be granted permits for a longer time, for example, between two 
dates, inclusive, as April 24th to May 15th. The granting of standing 
permits of indefinite length of time would defeat the purposes of the 
law. 

35. Issue permits promptly, and make it easy for distant residents 
to get them. 

36. Since the law requires that bills for services rendered shall be 
made out by the warden under whose direction the work is done, 
persons who extinguish fire on their own land should not expect to 
receive pay unless a warden is called in to take charge. 

37. Only as men come to appreciate the value of organized effort, 
will they succeed in checking a hot and extensive fire, which demands 
decision and skill in the warden, and courage and obedience in his 
men. In fighting such a fire, you will find the following organization 
effective : 

Chief: The town forest warden whose duty it is to summon 
helpers, direct the attack, send additional forces to critical points, 
examine the line of fire and the lay of the land with reference to plans 
for making fire lines and guards for back-firing, keep an account of the 
persons and property employed, and, finally, after the fire is out, 
investigate the nature, extent and cause of the fire. 



8 REPORT OF FORESTRY COMMISSIONER. 

Aid: The district forest warden, who acts as chief in the absence of 
the town warden. 

Foremen: Selected by the chief to lead crews of five or six men. 

38. The disposal of forces will depend upon existing conditions; 
for instance, the chief may direct one crew to push ahead with boughs 
and pumps to deaden the flames, while another crew follows with 
shovels and water to complete the work of extinguishment; again, 
several crews may be detailed to put out the side fires, while others are 
battling directly with the front fire, or constructing fire lines across its 
path. 

39. For full discussion of the causes and kinds of forest fires, 
and the methods of preventing and fighting the same, see Leaflet, 
No. 5, entitled " protection from fire," and the Annual Reports 
of this office. 

Estimation of Damage* 

In your written report, give much attention- to the question of 
damages, the kind of growth, and the size of the trees. Never report 
"no damages," for the incorrectness of such a report is self-evident. 

The expectation value measures the damage done, although it 
must be conceded that in law suits for damages, the risk of fire, 
wind, etc., tends to impair the authority of this rule. 

The expectation value of the growing stock, now M years old, is 
equal to the present worth of the forest produce which may be looked 
for from the woodlot, minus the present worth of all estimated ex- 
penses which must be incurred between the year M and the time of 
maturity of the trees, when they are cut. 

A mature stand is one so old that the growth in diameter and 
height is practically at an end. Timber may be considered mature 
also when it has reached a size well adapted to use by the local wood- 
using industries, as a chestnut sprout stand in this state, fifty to 
sixty years old, when the trees average thirteen to sixteen inches in 
diameter, and sixty-five to seventy feet in height, and are in good 
demand for ties, poles, posts and lumber. 



REPORT OF FORESTRY COMMISSIONER. 9 

Any nice calculation of expectation values by the application of 
the mathematical formulas of forest finance, involves systematic 
forest taxation, scientific tending of woods, and yield tables of the 
cliff erent kinds of trees, — three requisites lacking at present in Ameri- 
can forestry. 

The following method of estimating damages does not take into ac- 
count the expense of taxes on the one hand, nor the receipts in the form 
of thinnings of living woods and cullings of burnt stands, on the other 
hand. Moreover, it must be admitted that the damage to the 
productive capacity of the soil is difficult to measure in terms of 
money. But, since the factors of expenses and receipts during the 
rotation period tend to balance each other, the method is deemed 
sufficiently accurate for all practical purposes. 

Damage is estimated in these cases : 

1. Mature woods completely killed. 

A pine lot estimated to saw one-half a million feet of lumber, 
and having a stumpage value of $3,000, is killed by a crown fire. 
If the stumpage of the killed timber is worth $1,400, the damage 
is $1,600. 

2. Mature woods partly killed. 

A pine-oak stand that will cut two hundred thousand feet of 
lumber, having a stumpage value of $2,000, is injured by fire. Ex- 
amination shows that about one-fifth of the timber is killed, and 
that the stumpage of the killed timber is worth only $5 per thousand 
feet. The damage is 



3. Immature woods completely killed. 

A stand of twenty acres of sprouts ten years old, two to four 
inches in diameter, breast high. Suppose the rotation is fifty years 
when the yield is estimated to be forty cords per acre, worth $2 a 
cord on the stump. The present worth of $1,600 discounted at 
four per cent, for forty years is $333, the damage. 



10 REPORT OF FORESTRY COMMISSIONER. 

(In the above cases the owners of the woodland are entitled to a 
small additional compensation for damage to the soil and sprouting 
capacity of the stumps.) 

4. Immature woods partly killed. 

A thirty-five acre stand of mixed hard woods twenty years old, 
two to six inches in diameter, and averaging four inches, is estimated 
to yield in forty years, twenty-five cords of firewood per acre, worth 
$1 per cord stumpage. Careful investigation shows that about 
one-fourth of the stand is killed, and the injury to the living trees 
and to the soil is such that the yield at age forty would be about 
fifteen cords per acre, making the loss $350. The present worth or 
expectation value of $350 discounted for twenty years is $159, 
the amount of damage. 



Forest protection is a new undertaking in this State, and it should 
be the policy of the forest wardens to give every one a fair chance 
to know and understand the law; timely warning will sometimes 
serve as good a purpose as a fine. When it is not possible to obtain 
the conclusive evidence necessary for conviction, the moral effect 
of an investigation is salutary. 

While the office of forest warden is a responsible one, requiring a 
man of integrity and judgment, the State of Rhode Island does not 
expect the wardens to do the impossible, for the great work of con- 
serving our forests cannot be done in a day. Only by the hearty 
cooperation of the farmers, railroad companies, and all citizens with 
the wardens, can the desired results be attained. Above all, an 
educated public sentiment along the lines of forest conservation 
must be created before the forest interests of the state can be amply 
protected; the forest fire law should prove to be a potent means of 
creating such sentiment. 




Fig. 1. 

Old style of felling. 
John Jep and Stout Emons after heart of white oak. 



PART IL 
HOW TO CUT WOODLOTS. 



Preliminary* 

The underlying principle of forestry is a succession of forest pro- 
ducts. Forestry aims to utilize the mature timber with economy 
and profit to the present owner, and at the same time provide for 
the rapid renewal of growth on the cut-over land. Forestry, there- 
fore, has two distinct sides: the growing of timber, or silviculture; 
the cutting of grown timber and the manufacture and sale of lumber, 
or lumbering. 

Hitherto, lumbering in Rhode Island has consisted in removing 
the timber by the method of clearing in one cutting, without much 
thought or provision for the future forest. Until recently, the 
magnificent American forests appeared so boundless in extent and 
the lumber supply so inexhaustible, that nobody paid any attention 
to forest fires, much less to waste in lumbering. But with the grad- 
ual diffusion of knowledge, the scarcity of old growth, and the rise 
in stumpage, the time has come when owners will not permit their 
woodlands to be cut over in a crude manner, but will insist upon 
the practice of conservative lumbering. We are all disposed to live 
for the present, and the lumberman is no exception to the rule; 
he naturally wants to pocket the most money in the shortest time 
from timber ready to be cut, rather than to embark in the forestry 
business, involving as it does, risks, uncertainties, and a long period 
of time. That forestry on a large scale is properly the work of states, 
municipalities, and corporations which exist for' generations, can 
hardly be denied. There are, however, certain branches of forestry 
which fall within the scope of private enterprise. Protection, utiliza- 



12 REPORT OF FORESTRY COMMISSIONER. 

tion, reduction of waste, disposal of slash, stimulation of the annual 
increment, and cutting to a diameter limit under certain conditions, 
are all measures which pay in the present. 

One of the worst drawbacks to forestry is the lack of skilled labor 
at moderate prices. Years ago the woodsmen were willing to live 
on a fare of pork and beans, potatoes, white bread, johnny cake, coffee 
and molasses, served in tin dishes. They were a rugged hearty set 
of nen ready for hard work and satisfied with their food and pay. 
Today the same class of labor sometimes demand short hours, big 
wages, and the best table board. Again, forestry is a new thing; 
people do not yet understand it; perhaps some of the farmers, lumber 
merchants and sawmill men are inclined to regard it as something 
impractical, expensive and visionary. Many lumbermen who are 
skilled enough in such routine matters as the set-up of portable 
mills, the running of a circular saw and the scaling of lumber have 
given little or no study to lumbering in its larger aspects, such as 
the grading of lumber, the standard dimension requirements, the 
many uses of different species of wood, the demands of wood-using 
industries for the different kinds of lumber, the estimation of stand- 
ing timber, and the reproduction and protection of the forest. 

Despite all these drawbacks the lumbermen have usually managed 
to make good profits in the business, and they have done so largely 
through the rise in price of lumber and the failure of timber owners 
to be alive to the value of their woodlots. 

The department of forestry has not urged the passage of laws re- 
lating to the preservation of seed trees, the use of spark arresters 
on sawmills, and the disposal of slash, because it is thought to be 
better for the forest owners and lumbermen themselves, as they 
gradually come to see their own interests in these matters in a clearer 
light to handle them voluntarily without statutory requirements. 
Forestry has come to stay with us, and the sooner this fact is appre- 
ciated the better for all concerned. With every passing decade, 
the methods of practical forestry will become more and more inten- 
sive. This department offers to assist owners and lumbermen in 




Fig. 2. 
Portable steam sawmill. 




Fig. 4. 
Coppice with Reserves. R. I. 



REPORT OF FORESTRY COMMISSIONER. 13 

matters pertaining to reforestation, protection and the cutting of 
woodlots, and the State has the right to require the conservation of 
its forests. 

Methods of cutting and reproducing stands are here outlined. 
It is hoped that these methods which are applicable to the local 
forests may be adopted and practiced throughout the State. 

SIMPLE COPPICE. 

This is a very useful method of silviculture and the simplest and 
easiest to apply. It is applicable to stands of mixed hardwoods and 
swamps of red maple which sprout vigorously in localities near cities 
where the price of cordwood, fence posts and other small material 
is high. 

Let us suppose a farmer wants to manage his 180-acre woodlot 
for the steady production of cordwood on a rotation of 30 years. 
He divides the tract into 30 lots of about equal productive capacity 
and cuts one lot clear every year. The sprouts which follow this 
cutting are even aged, and at the end of 30 years when the whole 
stand is cut over, he has a series of 30 lots of sprouts ranging in age 
from 1 to 30 years. Every year the sprouts of one 6-acre lot are 30 
years old and ready for cutting. 

Successful application of this system requires clear cutting on 
a rotation of 20 to 40 years when the stumps are at the age of maxi- 
mum sprouting capacity. A supply of young seedlings among the 
sprouts to take the place of any exhausted stumps is provided for 
by natural reproduction or by planting. The wood should be cut 
in autumn or winter and promptly removed from the lot, the brush 
utilized for kindlings or otherwise disposed of in a way to do least 
injury to the sprout growth. 

COPPICE WITH RESERVES. 

Suppose there are on the above named woodlot straight, thrifty 
white oaks scattered over the area, which would yield much larger 



14 REPORT OF FORESTRY COMMISSIONER. 

returns if allowed to reach timber size and which the owner desires 
for lumber. In this case he leaves standing through two or three 
rotations, a certain number on each acre, perhaps 20 or 30, the num- 
ber depending upon whether the coppice is composed of light-de- 
manding trees like chestnut and oak, or shade-enduring trees like 
maple and beech. In no case should the number of reserves be so 
large that their shade would much retard the growth of the coppice. 
Such of these oak reserves as survive the increased exposure to 
wind following the sudden removal of the surrounding trees, are 
then cut for lumber at the time of removal of the coppice for cord- 
wood. The loss in yield of coppice is probably more than counter- 
balanced by the value of the white oak timber. 

POLE-WOOD COPPICE. 

In western Rhode Island the farmers' woodlots of mixed hard- 
woods are usually cut clear on a rotation of 50 to 80 years, accord- 
ing to when a sale can be made. The larger trees are used for lumber, 
ties and poles; the small trees and tops for firewood. 

Chestnut sprouts fairly well in old age. But good reproduction 
from old stumps of oak cannot be relied upon; some stumps sprout 
well, some send up weak shoots and others fail to sprout at all. 
Owing to the density of the stand or to forest fire, there may be 
few or no seedlings on the ground at the time the lot is cut; the 
succeeding stand, therefore, depending as it does upon such stumps 
as may retain their sprouting capacity, is apt to be inferior to the 
previous one in quality and yield. Continuation of this treatment 
means a gradual deterioration of the woodlot. 

Such woodlands may be reclaimed by the pole-wood coppice 
method which aims to produce this class of timber partly by sprouts 
and partly by seed. The stand when 50 to 80 years old is removed 
in two cuttings, 5 to 10 years apart. The first is called a reproduction 
cutting or a seed cutting in which about 30 per cent, of the volume 
of wood is removed. This cutting takes out the defective and sup- 
pressed trees and those of undesirable species. As soon as this seed 




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REPORT OF FORESTRY COMMISSIONER. 15 

cutting admits sufficient light, heat and circulation of air to start 
enough j^oung seedlings to supplement the sprout reproduction, 
the remainder of the stand is cut clear. The average stand of hard- 
woods in this State yields 30 to 40 cords per acre at age 60 years, 
so that the seed cutting removes 9 to 12 cords. In some cases in- 
stead of making the second cutting a clearing, it is desirable to leave 
a few trees — not over 15 or 20 to the acre — to grow during a second 
rotation. These reserves or standards should be chosen from the 
largest trees of the stand; they should have thrifty crowns and be 
straight, sound, wind-firm and of valuable species like oak, tulip 
and ash. Such reserves being isolated leaders of the stand, have the 
advantage of full sunlight and make a maximum growth, thus pro- 
viding a supply of heavy high grade timber. The cutting, piling and 
removing of the poles, ties and cordwood in the seed cutting costs 
a few cents per cord more than by the old method of general clear- 
ing in one cutting, but the additional cost is in the long run a most 
profitable investment. 

THE SELECTION METHOD. 

In virgin forest all ages and sizes of trees are distributed. Clear- 
ings made by wind and small openings made by the falling of old 
decayed trees are often indicated by the presence of clumps of even- 
aged seedlings. Specimens, groups and whole stands are arranged 
according to the full play of the ecologic factors. 

The cutting of the large mature trees and at the same time re- 
serving and protecting the medium-sized and small trees to reach 
merchantable size in a comparatively short time, is the basic principle 
of the selection method which is adapted to many aged forest, and 
which was practiced in a crude way by our ancestors who selected 
and cut here and there single trees or small patches of the heaviest 
timber, and drew the logs in winter with oxen, horses and sleds to 
the neighboring water saw mills which now seem likely to come 
back into use to a limited extent. 



16 REPOKT OF FORESTRY COMMISSIONER. 

This is an excellent method of cutting small amounts of timber 
in the home woodlot which serves as a wind-break or a covering to 
a water-shed. All such cuttings should be made with reference to 
the protection of young trees, the renewal of the forest by natural 
seeding and the elimination of undesirable species. On ground 
favorable to logging, if thrifty wind-firm young white pines and hard- 
woods 1 to 8 inches in diameter, breast high, are left uncut, they 
begin to grow rapidly after release from the larger trees and provide 
another stand of merchantable timber in a few years ready for the 
saw. The selection method as applied to a large area at any one 
time involves cutting to a diameter limit and marking the trees to 
be cut. The amount of extra cost of lumbering by this method 
depends upon the site, the type of forest, the plans of the foreman 
and the intelligence of the logging crew. 

Uneven aged pine-oak stands have been handled in such a way 
that 30 years after the portable steam mill one finds only a growth 
of birches, poplars, scrub oaks and other stunted hardwoods with 
perhaps a very sparse imderstory of little white pines. This condi- 
tion is the result of destructive lumbering in which every tree of 
timber size is sawed and the smaller trees cut into cordwood or 
broken down in logging. 

SCATTERED SEED TREE METHOD. 

Mature stands of white pine are cut to advantage after the scat- 
tered seed tree method by which 3 to 5 pines, 6 to 12 inches in diame- 
ter, and large enough to bear cones are left on each acre to furnish 
seed. Crooked, knotty trees are just as good as any for this purpose, 
provided they have thrifty crowns. A light surface burning just 
before a seed year clears the ground of litter and promotes the ger- 
mination of pine seed. Sprouts and thick mattings of leaves often 
retard the reproduction, but even under these adverse conditions 
the little pines will slowly come into the hardwoods and eventually 
over-top them. 




Fig. 7. 
Scattered seed trees of White Pine, 6 to 12 inches in diameter, left on a woodlot 
logged 6 years ago. There is now on the ground a good 
reproduction of pine seedlings. R. I. 




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REPORT OF FORESTRY COMMISSIONER. 17 

CLEAR CUTTING OF TIMBER. 

The clear cutting of timber and wood in one operation, — the 
method now used by the lumbermen of Rhode Island, — is the quick- 
est, cheapest method, and under certain conditions is in accord with 
the science of forestry. Conditions requiring clear cutting are: 

1. Forests on ridges, hill-tops and other exposed sites where 
there is danger of windfall. 

2. Stands of pure chestnut which sprouts well at all ages and 
demands full sunlight. 

3. Stands of mixed hardwoods where the sprout reproduction 
is quite certain to be satisfactory in amount and distribution. 

4. Where it is desirable to clean off certain species and plant 
better species. 

5. Rocky and swampy woodland where lumbering is attended 
with unusual difficulties. 

Clear cutting is also permissible in small lots of one or two acres 
surrounded by forest which is depended upon to seed over the area 
with desirable species; also in white pine stands just after a good 
seed year, or after an abundant growth of pine seedlings 2 to 10 inches 
tall. The logging is done best when the seedlings are covered with 
a deep snow. In pine tracts, however, it is always safer to leave 
some old seed trees, unless natural reproduction is to be supple- 
mented by planting. 

LOGGING. 

The local woodsmen cut the stumps low, usually in autumn or 
winter and utilize the full merchantable length; in these particulars 
they practice conservative lumbering. Personal experience in cutting 
timber and cordwood taught the writer that in felling trees and 
cutting skidding trails through the underbrush, it costs but little 
more to avoid injury to young growth. In felling timber each tree 
can be thrown where it will do least damage; careless felling of a 



18 REPORT OF FORESTRY COMMISSIONER. 

large tree may smash down a whole group of pine saplings. It is 
surprising to see what a large proportion of the promising young 
growth may be saved from injury by the exercise of just ordinary 
care and common sense in felling and skidding, although of course 
considerable destruction of young trees cannot well be avoided. 

The sprout hardwood stands of Rhode Island are mostly of even 
age and therefore, the small trees in such stands are of a suppressed 
and spindling type. In logging these stands no attention is paid to 
saving these small trees from injury; and rightly so, because it is 
usually better to utilize such trees for cordwood than to leave them 
standing on the woodlot to be blown down by wind. Here again 
the practice of woodsmen is in accord with forestry. 

There is, however, need of a departure from the present course 
of lumbering in the matter of slash disposal. Large tops and branches 
should not be left in a condition to smother sprouts and feed forest 
fires. The small branches should be scattered over the ground or if 
piled in heaps and winrows, burned. In many towns the market 
conditions for cordwood of all sizes are so favorable that there is no 
slash question to solve. Where there is no market for cordwood the 
slash should be handled as follows: 

1. It can be used for charcoal. 

2. In pine stands it may be piled in heaps and burned as the 
logging proceeds when the ground is damp or covered with snow; 
otherwise, the burning is deferred until wet weather. As the trees 
are felled, convenient places are selected for burning the brush. 
Fires are started while the trees are trimmed and the branches and 
tops are thrown on the nearest fire. Experienced men at this work 
clear the ground and thus make the skidding easier. A sufficient 
force of men is always present to prevent fire from getting beyond 
control. 

3. In stands of old hardwoods the tops are too heavy to pile 
for burning ; such tops should be lopped by the choppers so that close 
contact with the ground may hasten decay and enrich the soil. 



REPORT OF FORESTRY COMMISSIONER. 19 

WASTE IN MILLING. 

The amount of waste in local sawmill practice varies with the 
competence of the different lumbermen and operatives. Waste of 
lumber appears in many forms, such as unsuitable dimensions, uneven 
thickness, lack of grading, careless piling, sawing of a species of wood 
for uses to which it is not best adapted, disregard of the relative 
value of different products from the same species, ripping the timber 
into sawdust by sawing thin boards with a circular saw cutting a 
quarter-inch kerf, sawing clear logs into plank, cutting all the seed 
white pine in a woodlot, setting the woods on fire with sparks from 
the sawmill and so forth. 

VALUE OF STUMP AGE. 

The lumberman is entitled to a fair profit on his investment in 
stumpage and lumbering, but what is a fair profit, and what is the 
value of standing timber? Assume a woodlot to be 4^ miles from 
market; the daily wages of 2-horse team and driver, $5; the daily 
haul, two loads of lumber of 1,000 board feet each ; the cost of hauling 
is then $2.50 per thousand feet. 

Cost of lumbering per thousand board feet : 

Cutting $1 25 

Skidding 1 25 

Sawing 2 50 

Piling 1 00 

This makes the total cost of lumbering, including hauling, $8.50; 
allowing 6% interest for one year on this investment makes the cost 
$9.01. Frothingham, an authority on lumbering, defines the stump- 
age value of standing timber to be the market value of the finished 
product, less the cost of production and a reasonable profit. Then, 
in the case of lumber production, the stumpage value of timber is 
the market value of the lumber, less the total cost of lumbering and 
a reasonable profit on the investment in stumpage and lumbering, 



20 REPORT OF FORESTRY COMMISSIONER. 

including hauling to market. This definition is expressed by the 
formula: 

S equals jtqp mnius C, in which S represents stumpage value; 
M, market value; C, cost of lumbering; and P, rate of profit. 

Let the market value of the lumber on this woodlot average $20 
per thousand board feet; the lumberman's rate of profit on the 
investment in stumpage and lumbering 20%; then the stumpage 
value is: 

S equals % of 20 minus 9.01, or $7.66 per thousand feet. By 
adding the stumpage value to the cost of lumbering and subtracting 
the sum from the market value, the lumberman's profit of 20%, or 
$3.33 per thousand feet, is obtained. 

Again, allow the lumberman on his investment 25%, which is 
considered a good fat profit; then S equals % of 20 minus 9.01, 
or $6.99 per thousand feet for stumpage or standing timber; and 
$4.00 per thousand feet profit. On this basis a woodlot containing 
one million feet of lumber would have a stumpage value of $6,990, 
and afford the lumberman a profit of $4,000, plus any profit secured 
from cordwood. By the use of this formula any forest owner may 
figure the value of his standing timber. 

TIMBER ESTIMATING. 

Methods of estimating timber vary with the locality, the value 
of the timber, and the purpose of the estimate. Many woodsmen can 
tell near enough for practical purposes, whether a tract will cut ten 
thousand, fifteen thousand, or forty thousand feet to the acre. An 
old lumberman by merely walking through a lot of timber will often 
give a lump estimate that is very close for the whole lot. But for 
one lumberman who can really give a close and reliable estimate by 
glancing over the timber, there are many others who only think they 
can. Two woodsmen will often give the most widely variant and 
erroneous estimates of a woodlot in this way. In valuable ti nber, 



REPORT OF FORESTRY COMMISSIONER. 21 

wild guesses and rough estimates are giving way to the more accurate 
methods of timber estimating used in forestry. 

Although timber yields little or no annual income during its long 
period of growth, it is now taxed by the same method as houses and 
cultivated land yielding rent. Under this system of taxation, the 
amount of taxes with compound interest, paid on merchantable 
timber often exceeds the price paid for said timber. Since many 
farmers and others, after paying such taxes for generations, have 
finally sold their timber for ridiculously low prices, it may not be 
amiss to indicate here, one or two ways in which the forest warden 
and forest owner may get some notion of the amount of standing 
timber in a woodlot. 

For lots of 100 acres or less, and of fairly even type, there are 
several simple ways of timber estimating which give reliable results 
and which may be used by any person. One way is this: 

1. Count the timber trees within a circle of 59 feet radius; this 
circle contains one-quarter acre. 

2. Select one of these trees as a sample tree, having as nearly 
as one can estimate, the average diameter and height. 

3. Fell the tree, and saw it into convenient log lengths. 

4. Measure the top diameter inside the bark of each log, with a 
log rule giving the contents in board feet of edged inch boards in 
logs. 

5. Multiply the number of board feet in the average sample tree 
by 4 times the number of trees in the quarter-acre plot, to obtain 
the yield per acre in that part of the stand. 

Example: In a stand of mixed hardwoods, suppose the average 
sample tree is 14 inches in diameter, breast high, and cuts two 12- 
foot logs of 12 and 9 inches top diameter, respectively. The Maine 
Log Rule gives the contents of the butt log 78 feet, of the 2nd log 
39 feet, making the tree cut 117 board feet. Number of trees in 
quarter acre, 15; 117 multiplied by 60 equals, 7,020 — the yield in 
feet per acre. 



22 REPORT OF FORESTRY COMMISSIONER. 

By selecting 8 or 10 such quarter-acre plots in different parts of 
the woodlot, and applying this method to each plot, the average 
.yield per acre may be found. The degree of accuracy of the method 
depends upon experience and good judgment in selecting the sample 
trees and the plots. Allowance for rot and other defects in the stand 
must be made. 

A second method more accurate than the first and requiring no 
cutting of timber, and especially adapted to small lots of pine, hem- 
lock, and spruce, is as follows: Caliper every tree in the woodlot, 
down to 6 inches, tallying their number and diameter at breast height. 
Obtain the average height of the stand by measuring several fallen 
trees, or by means of a measuring tape and any instrument that 
measures angles. Having thus, by a few hours of light work, meas- 
ured the woodlot, the workman may easily obtain the total yield in 
board feet from Volume Tables which give the contents of trees by 
diameter and height classes. If the stand consists of uneven aged 
trees, like old pines scattered among a younger growth, it is necessary 
to divide the trees into two classes, tallying the diameter and height 
of each class. 

In using log rules and volume tables it should be understood 
that they are not designed to be very accurate as applied to any 
single log or tree; they are compiled from the average of a large 
number of measurements, and are accurate for a number of trees, 
or a pile of, — say 20 or more — logs 

A dozen different methods of estimating are used in forestry, 
but the estimation of timber is properly the work of a forester, 
and work which requires the skillful use of forest instruments and 
mathematical formulas. Any further discussion of the subject 
belongs to a treatise on Forest mensuration and not to a pamphlet 
of this kind. 

(The Maine log rule may be purchased for a small sum from V. 
Fabian, Milo, Maine. Volume tables with directions how to use, 
may be obtained from the Forest Service, Washington, D. C. All 
kinds of instruments used in the practice of forestry can be pur- 



REPORT OF FORESTRY COMMISSIONER. 23 

chased from Keuffel and Esser Company, New York City. Books: 
The Woodsman's Handbook, Graves; Measuring the Forest Crop, 
Mlodziansky; Cubage et Estimation des Bois, Frochot.) 

A WORKING PLAN. 

A forester's working plan is a written statement outlining the 
business policy of handling a forest property for the long run. For 
the ordinary woodlot it usually embraces such topics as forest de- 
scription, wishes of the owner, market conditions, protection from 
injurious agencies, utilization of products, provisions for natural 
reproduction, cost of lumbering, and rules for cutting. A complete 
plan for a large tract also includes a division of the tract into forest 
types and working compartments, estimation of present yield of 
standing timber, planting plans for waste areas, prediction of future 
yield based on measurements of the growth rate, and financial 
returns which take into account on the one side the value of the 
timber and wood, and on the other, the expenses of taxes, interest 
and management. In certain parts of the country woodsmen now 
work according to a forester's plan. 

THE COST. 

Forestry cannot be practiced without cost; but practical forestry 
is based on sound business principles, and it involves no present 
expenditure not warranted by the future returns. The investment 
may be in the form of planting, thinning, protection, supervision, 
increased cost of logging, seed trees, and small timber which might 
be utilized at once. The difference in cost between conservative 
lumbering and ordinary lumbering varies with many different con- 
ditions. The cost of disposal of slash depends on the kind of timber, 
the amount of young growth to be preserved, and the skill of laborers. 
The average cost in pine lots is about 25 cents per thousand feet of 
lumber cut. One authority on lumbering gives the extra cost of 
work in the woods by forestry methods over other methods, from 25 



24 REPORT OF FORESTRY COMMISSIONER. 

cents to $1.00 per thousand board feet; the cost of reproduction, in- 
cluding planting and seed trees, $2.00 to $10.00 per acre; the annual 
cost of protection and supervision, 2 to 10 cents per acre. 



The returns from forestry are too obvious for discussion. The 
beauty and glory of the earth as the home of man depends upon the 
forest. It is the business of forestry so to develop and perpetuate 
the forest that it shall serve forever in the highest degree the mani- 
fold interests of humanity. 



Svracu 



;e, N. Y, 



PAT. JAN. 21, 1908 



